I love weekends. There is something so brilliant about not having to get up and out of the house by 7. I get to make my bed, put in a load of laundry, make my coveted OSAL and relax. Sounds like a pretty edgy life, eh? Watch out.

How about some breakfast eats this week?

If anyone ever wants to compete in a grape eat-off, bring it. I’d have no problem kicking your butt kindly beating you. I think I went through 3 bags this week. Eat up.

So, those were just a side I kind of snacked on all morning every day this week. The main course for breakfast this week: almond butter oats, apple oats, and pumpkin oats. Sounds well-balanced already.

This would be the jar that housed my oatmeal. Hello, economical. There was about 1tbsp left, so I dumped my oats, ground flax, water and milk in and viola, almond butter oats. Thick, creamy, and filled me up until almost 2pm!

Next up, apple oats. I had an apple from last week that was looking a little abandoned on my desk at work. The other couple apples I bought on this grocery trip were average tasting at best, so I thought the flavor of this apple would peak while masked in oatmeal. See below. Looked better than it tasted. Almond butter oats win so far.

I returned to an old favorite, pumpkin oats. Sprinkled with some chia seed and shredded coconut. Tried and true. Tasted great, but I think overall, the **Best Breakfast Award** goes to almond butter oats in a jar.

So let’s change gears for a minute to yoga. I’ve mentioned Yogitoes before, and my healthy obsession with these. If I could have an unlimited supply of these, that would be ideal. They’re a necessity at Corepower. They also set you back $50-60 dollars. Did I mention I practice almost everyday and these yogitoes need to be washed after every use? Do you see where I’m going with this? Lots of laundry to keep up with. [Lots of dirty Lulus, too]

Enter, Gaiam ‘travel yoga mat.’ So this guy has rubber on the back and a towel-like front. Similar enough to Yogitoes for me to test it out. And, at less than $20, I was willing to take the risk. Result? Good enough. I still prefer my Yogitoes, but this helps ease the laundry load frequency. Got it at Marshalls. Holler.

Back to food. How’s this look for a well-balanced lunch? I impressed myself even. Grapes [part of the 3 bag weekly consumption, mmhmm], celery with a side of laughing cow cheese, and a sammy of Ezekiel bread, tempeh, spinach and mustard. D-LISH. This was my first time trying tempeh. Not sold. I didn’t do anything to prepare it, so I need to get creative and give it a fair shot.

Ok, and to round out this post, it wouldn’t be right to not include an IMMERSION BLENDER CREATION. It’s a purple monster!

Ready for my first blog-world confession?!? Are you? Before I hit ‘publish’ I’m going to let you in on a little secret. This ‘giving up meat’ thing for lent? Yeah, not going so well. I think I’ve caved about 4 times already! Whoops. Turns out when I’m with friends and family, that’s what’s for dinner. How is it that giving up alcohol (2009) and coffee (2008) was much easier.

Questions Master: Where are you going on your next vacation? I think I’ll be off to Seattle in May …hoping to travel before then, but that’s the only thing on the books between now and then.

I was hungrier than usual this morning and munched on my homemade granola to hold me over before lunch yoga at noon! I took a class from Aleeah again and I’m really liking her style. It is SOoOoOo refreshing to get out of the office for ‘lunch.’ Call it what you want to call it.

Swapped the 2 clementines for an orange …I’ll save the clemmys for tomorrow

I fit in a quick Trader Joe’s run after work – it’s official, I love grocery shopping. More to come on some new grocery items! Home, unpacked, off the phone with friends, and it was SIAB time inspired by Kath.

Late afternoon snackage around 2? Obvi. Homemade granola. Held me over until 5pm yoga. I did C1 tonight because I wanted a workout but wasn’t up for sculpt. C1 is more of a beginners class, so I was feeling pretty good. Didn’t sweat as much as I hoped for, but I like Aleeah’s classes, and I left refreshed. Favorite pose today: Pigeon …really helps stretch out the hips.

Dinner munching around 6:45. Home from yogaing and ready for experiment #2: Lentil hummus. I’ve never even heard of such a thing, but I’m not one for following the rules of recipes, so here gos. (My mom would be so proud frustrated if she was cooking with me!) ha

1c cooked lentils

1/2c broth

1tsp tahini

1tbsp cumin

1/2tbsp chopped garlic

sprinkle salt+pepper

splash lemon juice

Consensus – very comparable to a chickpea hummus! I busted out the Wheat Thins to taste test my favorite Atheenos Roasted Red Pepper hummus vs my made-up Lentil Hummus. I dig it. Could be good on a sammy, too. Or with some celery sticks. Score! Looks kind of gross, huh? How about that trusty immersion blender.

really big sweet tooth lately …enter, chocolate (X3)

I was on autopilot in the kitchen this morning when I was making oats and opened a can of pumpkin (the big can!). I ment to experiment with new grocery items – sweet potato and butternut squash purees. More on that next week once I’m through my pumpkin.

Last night I did a little food/bev prep. I had a bag ‘o pots’ (sweet pots, to boot) to prep and some iced tea to make. Thanks, Mikey for the green tea+agave idea!

Washed, chopped, and baked, the pots went into the oven (~40min@400-degrees). Simultaneously, I boiled about a quart of water and plopped in 5 TJs green tea bags ….steeped for a couple minutes and poured into a jug over ice. Perfect little something to sip any time of day. That was my evening activity …holler.

Come morning, it was time for my OSAL.

[insert 30min slippery, sloppy drive to the office]

Breakfast was another batch of fantastic oats.

Ooomazing oatmeal

1/4c my oat mix (steel-cut+old-fashioned)

1/2c hot water

1/2tbsp cinnamon

[microwaved ~1minute]

1/4c fat-free ricotta cheese+Libby’s pumpkin

Splash of soymilk

Sliced naner

1/2tbsp chia seeds

Sounds like a lot, cause it was! Filled me up for 4+ hours. Oh, and I sipped on that Acai antioxidant superfood drink by Sambazon that I picked up yesterday at the store. Highly recommend. I can’t remember verbatim but I think the bottle claimed some 100+ acai berries per bottle. Met my quota for the month. The bottle was between $3 and $4, so it won’t be a regular buy, but a good find. Between that and a Kombucha, I’m not sure what I’d opt for …probably loyal to Kom.

So, fast forward to lunchie time …I experimented a little bit, much thanks to Good Earth. If you’ve never been there, go! You won’t regret it. So, those sweet pots that I roasted last night …I used about 3/4c of those (skin and all) and added some shaved ginger+cinnamon and heated them for ~1minute in the microwave. I ‘mashed’ them with a fork and called it a side ‘o veggies. The headliner of my lunch was a lil berry+bean salad.

The salad was enough. Considering I wasn’t too hungry after such a fab breakfast, I was ok with it. I snacked on a couple Wheat Things later in the afternoon cause they’re so damn good ….follow by an upset tummy remedied by some peppermint tea.

All in all, a good night, day, and night again.

Question Master: Anyone have a good chili recipe? It’s sounding good, and I need some ideas.

Just popped on some Sia to accompany me while I work on this post (Paige, if you’re reading this …I credit everything I know about music [a notch above nothing] to you).

Great eats today, kiddos. See thebomb.com oatmeal below. I had this after my morning OSAL (organic skim agave latte). I think I scared my cocos (coworkers) this morning when I whipped out ricotta cheese while making oats in the kitchen.

This is the first time I added ricotta to my oats – HOLY MOLY that was a fabulous idea. I don’t know what I was doing away from my desk, but when I returned to enjoy breakfast, a sampling of some new Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal appeared. Thanks, G …it was pretty good. Did you know Kashi has 25 cold cereals out in the market?

Lunch had a big act to follow. I enjoyed an average-tasting grapefruit with the salad below.

I snuck in a nice sweat-sesh at Corepower after work. Your first week is free, so check it out if you haven’t already. And, tell them I told ya! Unfortunately, both of my yogitoes were dirty, so I had to use a towel in its place – not ideal.

Ran in and out of the grocery store quickly after class. I was a hot mess sight to be seen ….work heels paired with sweaty yoga clothes in search of a couple goodies. Free entertainment, people.

Grabbed a Divine Grape Kombucha, some naners, spinach, peppermint tea, milk, and an interesting-looking acai drink I’ll have to report on later.

Arrived home to a dirty kitchen – woof. Cleaned, wiped, and ready for smoothie-making-maddness.

Since I will be ‘out of office’ tomorrow and most of Wednesday, the Sunday grocery shopping got axed. That means I get will be extra creative with my ‘meals.’ Please note, I never sacrifice my latte. It was another d-lish organic-skim-agave-latte this morning.

Breakfast was creamy-pumpkin-oats. See recipe below for a no-fail start to your morning.

The trick here is mixing the oats, soymilk, water, and cinnamon together and microwave for ~1-2min. THEN, stir in pumpkin (and additional soymilk if you prefer …you’ll max out your vitamin A daily need here with the pumpkin). Slice the naner on top and sprinkle with chia seeds ….let stand for a couple minutes and the oats will thicken up. Pumpkin is a great thickener! I’ve seen it camouflaged used in turkey chili …super good.

Lunch was a mish-mash. This is where my ‘creativity’ really had to come into play.
Leftover quinoa mixed with a Trader Joe’s veggie blend (soybeans, corn, red pepper), a string cheese, and some apple cider vinegar. I had a side of steamed brussel sprouts – nothing fancy here. Then, I satisfied my ridic sweet tooth with some dark chocolate-covered cherries.